Snails’ Taste, Not Pace in Cantalupo

Snails are served up not at the proverbial “snail’s pace” but with zip and verve by the earnest young wait staff at the August food festival near Bevagna starring snails, la Sagra della Lumaca. [lcaption]Selena serves up roasted snails[/lcaption] [lcaption]Smiling Giuseppe brings antipasti and bruschette[/lcaption] [lcaption]Samuele with polenta alla salsa di lumache and tagliatelle[/lcaption] [lcaption]Bruschette…

Castagnoli in Chianti: Tuscany with a Dash of Sardinia

If you blink, you might drive right past Castagnoli (pop. not more than 70), tiny frazione of Gaiole in Chianti. You might also be distracted by the sweeping panoramas of vineyards and olive groves draping the hills bordering the roadside. But…attenzione!  Don’t pass the former hayshed now a restaurant, Osteria Il Bandito. If you’re in Tuscany’s…

Near Assisi, That Sagra  Starring Spaghetti

When in central Italy from spring to late fall, you can’t miss feasting with the “locals” at a sagra (village food festival of local specialties cooked and served up by local volunteers). Each sagra features various dishes cooked up with delicacies of the area: snails at Cantalupo, pork shank at Petrignano, eels at Beroide (near…

Make It Peachy!

Back in our “farming years,” we’d ride our old Gilera motorcycle to nearby Bettona for peach-picking in July. I’d rather hoe corn, muck the pig stalls or even help on the haying than pick peaches. Hot, sweaty and itchy work. But what peaches! And you’d forget about sweltering in the Bettona peach orchards when savoring…